In the Forty-Nine Squares of Changning Prefecture, although Changle Square is the poorest market, it is not entirely a slum; at least, there is one street that is fairly decent, called Happy Forest.
As the name suggests, Happy Forest is a place for people to enjoy themselves. On this small street, there are hundreds of gambling houses, taverns, brothels, and inns.
This single street of Happy Forest can support dozens of Flying Eagle Gang members. If it weren't for it, the Flying Eagle Gang might have already left Changle Square.
To fight for such a poor place against the Green Bamboo Gang, the Flying Eagle Gang felt like they were making a loss.
At this moment, in the largest brothel of Happy Forest, the Drunken Moon building, Liu Sandao, while enjoying a massage from two girls, listened to reports from his subordinates. His days were pretty comfortable.
Liu Sandao, who was already in his thirties this year, had spent over a decade in Jianghu to attain the position of a minor boss. It was not easy for him.
Although the way he got his current position was not so honorable.
But this is Jianghu, although they, as petty gang members, were the lowest among Jianghu people, there was a rule applicable to all, that the winner was the king.
Although Liu Sandao was fierce and ruthless, and had once killed a rival gang member in his first battle, earning himself the name Liu Sandao, he was not a martial artist, not having any martial arts ability.
Because of this lack of strength, he had been struggling at the bottom of the Flying Eagle Gang for more than a decade.
However, it was not without benefits. At least at the bottom of the Flying Eagle Gang, he had a wide network, and had some connections with some of the minor bosses and major bosses above.
Otherwise, after he framed Su Xin, his fate would not have been this minor boss position, but the punishment according to the gang rules.
"How's Brother Chen doing at the gambling house?" Liu Sandao played with a pair of iron gall in his hands and asked casually.
He learned this from Tie Wujing, the Chief Catcher of East Twelfth Square in Changning Prefecture, and felt it gave him a sense of authority.
His subordinate said with a worried expression: "Brother Chen has already lost more than a hundred taels at the gambling house, and they just lent him another hundred taels."
Liu Sandao waved his hand unconcernedly: "Whatever he loses is on my account. Tell Old Huang from the gambling house that he does not need to pay his share next month."
His subordinate said cautiously: "But the monthly payment for the gambling house is only fifty taels, and Old Huang said that when the Green Bamboo Gang was in charge, they only collected thirty."
"Bang!"
Liu Sandao violently smashed the iron gall in his hand onto the ground, scaring the two girls behind him.
"I am in charge here!"
A savage look was on Liu Sandao's face.
"Go and tell Old Huang, from now on, the monthly payment will be increased to two hundred taels! If he doesn't pay, there's no need for his gambling house to continue operating!"
"Yes! I'll go to tell him right now!" The subordinate immediately ran out.
For some reason, since Liu Sandao became a minor boss, the usually amiable Liu San has changed a lot.
Liu Sandao picked up the iron gall on the ground, reclined back on his chair and began massaging it again, but before he could settle down, there was a noisy commotion outside the door.
"What's going on?" Liu Sandao asked with displeasure.
"Big brother! Fifth brother is dead!" A gang member with a scar on his face ran in crying.
"What happened? Didn't Fifth brother go out with Fourth brother? Could it have been done by the Green Bamboo Gang?"
Liu Sandao pushed people away and saw at the doorway of the Drunken Moon building that Fourth brother was carrying Fifth brother, who had been killed by Su Xin's sword. Fourth brother's eyes were blank as he looked at him.
"How did Fifth brother die?!"
Although he had many subordinates, most of them had recently joined after he became a minor boss. The ones who had been loyally following him for several years were only these five brothers.
"Third brother! Fifth brother was killed by Su Xin!"
"Su Xin!" The name that Liu Sandao least wanted to hear now was this one.
Despite the gangsters in Jianghu being looked down upon by the righteous martial arts world, they still needed to value brotherhood.
Though Liu Sandao solidified the position that he attained by betraying his brothers, it nevertheless did lead to idling talks among others.
"Impossible! Su Xin was battered by the Green Bamboo Gang to the point where he could barely breathe. Even if he didn't die, he should be on the verge of death. How could he kill Fifth brother?"
Fourth brother said mournfully: "It's true! Su Xin killed Fifth brother with just one strike! No! It shouldn't be called a sword, it was just a piece of iron! He also said that Third brother, you owe him, and he will come to collect it personally!"
Upon hearing his words, Liu Sandao immediately felt a chill rush to his head.
After looking around, Liu Sandao yelled: "What the hell are you all looking at? Get the hell out of here!"
Those who were watching the commotion in the Drunken Moon building immediately retracted back.
"Go get Brother Chen."
Brother Chen, whose real name was Chen Dao, was in his forties. Although he was just an ordinary member of the Flying Eagle Gang, his other identity was the sworn son of Third Master Tiger, one of the thirteen top bosses of the Flying Eagle Gang.
With profound training in Iron Sand Palm techniques from Third Master Tiger, ordinary minor bosses were no match for him.
This time Liu Sandao invited Chen Dao to eat, drink, gamble, and visit brothels, spending hundreds of silver taels, with the intention of asking him to put in a good word with Third Master Tiger, to make his position more solid.
His subordinate brought Chen Dao over, but Chen Dao sat impatiently in Liu Sandao's previous spot and asked: "What's the matter? I was enjoying the gambling."
Liu Sandao didn't mind Chen Dao's rudeness, but instead apologized with a smile: "Brother Chen, the thing is, one of my men was killed, and it was a one-strike-kill. So I thought you might know something about this man's abilities."
"Members of the Green Bamboo Gang?" There shouldn't be members of any other gangs in a place like Changle Square. The only possibility is the Green Bamboo Gang that just lost in a fight to them.
"No, it's one of our own from the Flying Eagle Gang." Liu Sandao existed with a face full of embarrassment.
"Your own people? Damn, can't you even control your own men?"
Chen Dao frowned at Liu Sandao, suddenly thought of something and asked in surprise, "Is it Su Xin? The Su Xin you stole the position from?"
Liu Sandao embarrassingly nodded. After all, betraying a brother is not something to be proud of.
Chen Dao shrugged indifferently, after all, he was being profited to remove others' troubles.
The corpse of the fifth elder was brought up, Chen Dao crouched down and started examining carefully.
Seeing the sword wound on the elder's throat, Chen Dao's eyes narrowed suddenly.
"Brother Chen, how is it? Did you find anything?" Liu Sandao quickly asked.
"An expert! An expert swordsman!" Chen Dao said gravely, his tone no longer as lazy as before.
"One fatal blow, the sword edge accurately cut the trachea, not even one millimeter further, this person's control of the sword has reached a terrifying level. Was Su Xin this strong when he was under your command?"
Liu Sandao looked blank, "This kid was indeed a good fighter back in the days. Although he looks weak, he is quite strong and ruthless. He was able to take on three strong men by himself, but I never heard he knew how to use the sword."
"Strange, a skill of this level, only one immersed in the way of the sword for more than ten years would be able to execute," Chen Dao sat up and played with the iron galls of Liu Sandao.
"Could it be that Su Xin has learned inner strength?" Liu Sandao suddenly suggested.
Chen Dao laughed, "Do you think Inner Strength is something everyone can learn? Only true postnatal realm martial artists can know Inner Strength. In Shaying Gang, only the gang leader and three hall masters are Postnatal Martial Artists.
Where do you think this is? This is Changning Prefecture, not Shengjing City, where martial artists roam the streets. At most, we're regarded as Jianghu operators. You think about Inner Strength after listening to these legends?"
Liu Sandao said with an embarrassed smile, "I'm just not well-informed, Brother Chen, do you think you can handle Su Xin?"
"What's the use of stabbing quickly and accurately with a sword? Strength is the key! For 500 taels of silver, I'll solve Su Xin for you, and at the same time, I'll inform my foster father that Su Xin colluded with the Green Bamboo Gang and will exempt you from the rumors of betraying your brothers," Chen Dao played with Liu Sandao's iron gall while speaking.
"Fine! I'm going to prepare the silver now!" Liu Sandao agreed, gritting his teeth.
Compared to silver, life is more important. Although five hundred taels is a lot, one can skim a bit more from the various storefronts in Happy Forest, and it can be made up in a month.
"Great! Liu Sandao, you'll soon know that the 500 taels of silver you spent is not unjust."
Chen Dao threw down the iron gall and got up. On the pure steel iron gall, five clear finger marks emerged!
So, what is Su Xin doing now? He's eating buns.
He had just arrived at Happy Forest and was already hungry. So he found a roadside stall and ordered several steamed buns.
Martial artists have a lot of vitality, which makes them need a lot of food. In addition, Su Xin has just started to practice Inner Strength, which requires him to digest the essence of food and refine it into Inner Strength.
Some experts eat an entire cow a day without problem, of course, they are also able to go a month without food or drink.
After finishing the buns, Su Xin remembered that he still had a lottery chance today.
With a thought, Su Xin was in the System Space.
"System, do I still have a lottery chance today?"
The system said, "Correct, the host still has one chance at the primary lottery. Would you like to draw?"
"Draw." Su Xin said without hesitation.
Although the primary lottery is somewhat feeble, what if he gets lucky and wins a cultivation technique or martial arts skill.
However, Su Xin apparently didn't have the blessing of a fortunate aura. The pointer of the wheel passed the Cultivation Technique column and turned to the Elixir column.
"Tsk! This is a bit disappointing. It would be great if it was a weapon."
Su Xin is still using that iron chip sword, which is somewhat tacky.
The silver he obtained from the fourth elder could buy a fine steel longsword, but all ordinary ones, almost the same as the iron chip.
"Congratulations, host. You have drawn a primary sub-quality Qi Nourishing Pill, half-star rating."
Su Xin's mouth twitched, Qi-nourishing Pill, and it's a sub-quality one. The name doesn't sound like anything good.
Coming out of the System Space, the substandard Qi-nourishing Pill appeared in Su Xin's hand. It was not round, but an irregular lump, which didn't look reliable.
Su Xin opened his mouth, swallowed it with two clicks, and immediately felt his inner strength double.
Don't think this doubling is a lot. Su Xin has only practiced Inner Strength for one day, and his Inner Strength is very minimal. Even if it doubles, it's still minimal.
In summary, this primary sub-quality Qi-nourishing Pill can only increase Su Xin's inner strength for one day, and it's just better than nothing.
As soon as he stood up, a voice came to Su Xin's mind from the system: "Task system open, now issuing task. Novice Task: Kill Liu Sandao within three days and become the Flying Eagle Gang's small leader. Task reward: Villain Value 10 points, a primary Qi-nourishing Pill. Failure Penalty: Lose an arm."
"The failure penalty for the novice task is so heavy? But the task is pretty simple."
Su Xin threw down a piece of silver and headed straight for Happy Forest.